UK’s IMSG divests 66 pc stake in Candid Marketing

Strategic brand activation agency Candid Marketing has announced a
management buyout of the company from UK-based International Marketing
and Sales Group Plc (IMSG). IMSG had acquired a 66 percent stake in
Candid Marketing in June 2006. The buyout, effective immediately, will
not see any change in the management team structure Atul S Nath,
Co-founder and Managing Director, Candid Marketing.

Speaking on the development, an IMSG spokesperson said, “IMSG decided to disinvest in Candid India so that it could focus energies and funds to build on its business in the UK, Russia and the CIS countries, where it is a dominant BTL marketing player.” IMSG were advised by Sanjay Sondhi of Pegasus Advisory New Delhi.

Commenting on the management buyout, Atul S Nath said, “Candid Marketing is a robust agency, which has witnessed strong growth over the last few years. Recently, we were adjudged the No. 1 brand promotion agency by a leading financial daily and we intend to work towards maintaining our leadership. The buyout is evidence of the potential of Candid to stay the No. 1 agency in the industry, taking it to the next level of its evolutionary process.”

He further said, “All of us at Candid Marketing are very excited about this development, we believe we can deliver great work to our clients in brand activation and in other lines of marketing services that we would now be launching.”

Candid has claimed to have grown by over 40 percent over the last
year, providing promotional and activation solutions to clients like
HUL, Nokia, ESPN-STAR Sports, Cadbury, Pepsi, Star TV, Castrol, Mars
Foods and many other MNCs.